Stop Fixing Women to Act Like Men

The workplace has so overwhelmingly changed since the 1950s. Yet many of the leadership and management programs, policies and practices still in use today at many large corporations had their philosophical beginnings back then, with men planning how to best lead and manage huge workforces comprised almost entirely of men.

The marketplace itself has undergone dramatic changes. Women today dominate purchase decisions in virtually every consumer category. Yet many of the marketing strategies, selling techniques and buying assumptions can be traced back to the thoughts and actions of men and how they’re inclined to sell and buy cars, homes, computers, food, insurance and health care.

The way companies have worked in the past may not be the best way to work in the future and prior success is not necessarily a guarantee of that in the future.

What’s not being taken into account and brought into balance is the complementary way that many women think and act when it comes to their leadership, management and business strategy. Unfortunately, several large companies today without this line of sight fall into a women-focused initiatives frenzy.

They send women to universities for leadership and management development, put them through sales-training programs, have them role-play assertiveness in conflict-resolution workshops, all instructing women how to behave like men to survive and advance in the world of business.

They’re singularly focused on reaching numeric goals and not encouraging culture change, hoping that addressing one agenda will eventually take care of the other.

While producing some modest inroads, these and other decades-old programs haven’t helped women advance in male-designed corporations.

Women in male-designed corporations

The major reason is that the mind-set that creates these programs, with the best of intentions, is not acknowledging the environment that women are coming into. It’s not recognising the value that women bring in thinking differently from men when solving problems or making decisions and actively seeking to blend the talents and skills of men and women – at all levels of leadership.

Established businesses often fail to discover breakthroughs primarily because they stick to their rigid formulas rather than pursue new ways of thinking. Like mosquitoes stuck in amber, these large corporations remain frozen in the past while entrepreneurial companies led by men and women, across all industries, are nimbly moving forward and shaping this new business world.

Forward-thinking entrepreneurs are seeking out and capitalising on the blended instincts of their leaders and managers and not focused on fixing women to act like men and adhere to a limited paradigm of business.

They’re challenging conventional wisdom and running circles around the behemoths by being more fluid and flexible in policies and procedures. And they’re constantly seeking innovative ideas and strategies to improve business operations and grow their markets. They are closer to the pulse of the marketplace and realising there is more than one business model and path to success. Two of our clients are involved in such a pursuit.

In 2008, American Express reviewed the composition of its workforce and discovered something surprising and disappointing given all its efforts to create greater gender balance within its leadership ranks. While women made up more than half its employees, and a third of the top 500 positions, women were disproportionately less prevalent at the senior level and practically nonexistent at the top. Company leaders set out to discover why.

One finding across the studies was perplexing and its potential solu­tion “elusive,” according to Valerie Grillo, American Express’ chief diversity officer. “We found the higher a woman rose in the company, the more male-influenced the environment became around her,” she said.

“After 15 years of driving for gender equality, the gender balance had not changed at American Express precisely because of the culture at its most senior-most levels.”

“At historic companies like ours, it can be easy to rely on approaches that have worked in the past,” Grillo said. “But by taking the time to teach our leaders,” to appreciate diversity, she said, “we shifted mind-sets. It was an ‘aha!’ moment for many of our executives, and almost immediately we started to see a positive change.

“As a customer-centric organisation, creating an inclusive culture is the only way for us succeed,” Grillo added. “We have a lot of diverse talent here, both in ideas and background. Ensuring they can be their true selves has helped us to connect and better service our customers in innovative ways.”

Today, American Express, a client of our firm since 2002, has had some of the highest percentages of women in its senior management and leader­ship ranks. President Ed Gilligan said: “We know in order to succeed we must create a workplace that embraces diverse opinions and empowers all employees to reach their highest potential. This spirit of inclusiveness enables us to make better decisions today to accelerate our growth for tomorrow.”

A-HA!

Realising that just hiring more women doesn’t solve the problem was Deloitte’s breakthrough insight. Before its aha! moment, the firm couldn’t explain the high turnover of women in its North America division, a trend that was costing the company tens of millions of dollars every year.

The company, another client of ours, was losing more women than it was hiring. And in exit interviews, the departing women didn’t offer any specific reason why they were opting out, aside for personal or family-related causes. They didn’t want to burn bridges by speaking about real reasons for their leaving or risk being tagged as negative by competing firms.

When we conducted post-exit interviews several months after their departures, we discovered the reasons why Deloitte’s women executives were quitting. They did not feel valued in what they deemed a very male-influenced environment and many believed they would never make partner.

Deloitte realised that its focus on doing things “by the numbers” was costing them a lot and getting the company nowhere. It had spent money to get talent only to lose it because of the environment.

Once the company saw past the numbers, it made more valuable discoveries: Deloitte learned that men and women don’t often think through issues, make decisions, lead teams and engage clients in the same fashion.

Ultimately, they came to the game-changing realisation that it’s not merely a balance in numbers but the balance in contribution that gives a sense of satisfaction and worth to men and women individually and economic value to the organisation as a whole.

Deloitte’s new insights changed the mind-set of the organisation. Managers realised how much the company’s diverse client base valued the different perspectives brought by Deloitte women and began to view partnership in a new light.

It became the first organisation in its industry to focus on retaining women and men as partners with less than full-time work commitments. In a little less than two years, the turnover rate of women in the accounting division dropped from 27 percent to 11 percent.

In our highly developed global business community where new ideas and talent are increasingly in short supply, the successful organisations today are led by men and women with an entrepreneurial spirit – leaders who recognise that there’s a deeper merit in gender diversity and committed to change beyond quotas, sameness-thinking and one-size-fits-all meritocracies.

The successful companies will be those, regardless of size, who will secure and use the best talent in the marketplace by embracing gender equality in value and welcoming diversity of thought.

Entrepreneur Magazine is South Africa's top read business publication with the highest readership per month according to AMPS. The title has won seven major publishing excellence awards since it's launch in 2006. Entrepreneur Magazine is the "how-to" handbook for growing companies. Find us on Google+ here.

Rapelang Rabana’s Innovation Formula – 3 Key Ingredients To Innovate

The innovation formula is simple: According to tech entrepreneur Rapelang Rabana, innovation is at its best and greatest when it’s sourced from your unique perspective and accumulated wisdom, combined with shared value and execution.

At this year’s BCX Disrupt Summit, Rapelang broke the process down into the three key ingredients that together shape innovation and success.

1. Prepare your mind

Your ability to innovate and be creative is based on the sum of all of your experiences. Great ideas do not take shape in our minds, they are the result of external stimulus hitting a prepared mind. We don’t think up ideas — we notice them. We connect the dots in new and creative ways. And our ability to do so is based on how prepared we are to notice what’s happening around us, and to tap into that information.

When asked what it takes to be great like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, Musk’s ex-wife, Justine Musk had this advice to offer:

“Shift your focus away from what you want (a billion dollars) and get deeply, intensely curious about what the world wants and needs. It helps to have an ego, but you must be in service to something bigger if you are to inspire the people you need to help you.”

So, ask yourself this: What do you have that is so deeply compelling and needed that no one can outsource you or replace you? Until you can answer this question, keep building your mind, your abilities and your knowledge. Work on your repository, and your ability to connect the dots.

2. Create shared value

Thato Kgatlhanye, founder of the Rethaka foundation, an organisation that creates school bags that are also solar panels, and can provide schoolgoers with energy in the evening so that they can do their homework, says that she is money-driven, business-driven, and empathetic towards her people. In other words, her business is created through shared value, and the desire to not only create money for her business, but within her communities as well.

Most successful organisations would never have been launched if their primary focus was for the business to win. People are hungry for things that are inclusive and show positive change.

Consider Airbnb — the founders had the audacity to put a blow-up mattress in their livingroom, and believe that other people would find value in their offering. And they were right, mainly because the business model is all inclusive. The business wins, the hosts win and the customers win.

According to Nielsen, 40% more social entrepreneurs are growing compared to other SMEs, and they’re showing greater profit. In addition, people say they are more likely to purchase from ethical and sustainable businesses. The cynics might say this is what people say, not how they buy. This may be true, but it’s also a leading indicator of how we will behave in the future. We’re trying to get there, and our behaviour will catch up to the sentiment.

Always be cognisant of how responsive the market is. Learn to leverage public sentiment and get attention through the ideal of shared value. Winning with others is the fastest way to create value today.

3. Get stuff done

When we start a project or idea, we try to project into the future. We want to draw a linear picture between now and then. The problem is that creation is far more chaotic.

Instead, minute variations over time create profound changes. It’s a journey. There are no defining moments of success or failure; just a series of events strung together over time. To make the necessary minute variations though, you need data points and you need to take action. Often this starts with just beginning. If you start, you can move forward, slowly but surely. Progress is far more evolutionary than simply trying to imagine the end.

The problem is that the mind blocks us. We essentially block ourselves from success. How? Building anything and trying to be innovative requires a series of many, many decisions made over years and years. Many of those decisions are made — or not made — from a place of fear. Our instincts tell us to do something, and then our minds stop us. The most incredible things can happen if we learn to follow our instincts though.

In her book, The Five Second Rule, Mel Robbins unpacks the skill of acting on your instincts. In essence, the space between your instinct and the moment of hesitation that stops you from acting is five seconds. This means you have five seconds to make things happen, and the way to utilise that time and to make things happen is to count down from five: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. At one, move. Get up, take action, call the client, speak to your boss — don’t let fear come in and crush the instinct.

Why a countdown? A countdown suspends — for a moment — the self-doubt that gives you space to move before the brain kills it. I started using the rule for small stuff at first. A countdown in the morning to get out of bed and go to gym. Then I started using it for the harder stuff, like not losing my temper. If you can be aware enough to make the countdown, you can change your behaviour.

The ability to execute and turn innovation into profit comes down to a series of five-second moments over years. Push yourself. Get past your mental blocks and act on your instinct.

Combine this with building on your knowledge, connecting the dots around you, and understanding that value is not given or taken, but is created through shared value, and you have the recipe for innovation and success.

“My work is never complete, we wake up with a hunger to learn, and no one is ever truly an expert. Anyone who says, ‘I’m an expert at anything’ has closed their mind to the idea that they might not know everything. There’s always more to learn. I’ve never considered myself an expert. I’m always a student of leadership. All the work is imperfect and all the learning is continuous.”

Action Step: If you can read 20 full pages a day, or even listen to an hour-long audio/podcast, you will accumulate more than 36+ books a year of new knowledge.

Start here: If you’re not sure where to start, download the audible app (audible.com) and browse the business books available, or subscribe to podcasts. Three great places to begin are:

Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. With a turbulent economy, companies cutting jobs and employees fearful they’ll be replaced by robots, people of all backgrounds are looking to take control of their financial future and pursue their passion, including celebrities.

Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney and Victoria Beckham are just some of the stars who decided to transition from La La land to entrepreneurial land.

And now Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known as the star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is also part of the startup world. The actress-turned-entrepreneur joined forces with friends who are also parents, Galit Laibow and Greg Fleishman, to launch Foodstirsin 2015. The DIY baking company, which sells kits and mixes, wants to provide parents fun, yet simple desserts for their children, with a focus on organic, ethically and sustainably-sourced ingredients.

“We’re determined to help bakers around the world take pride in their pantries, joy in their treats, and time together in the heart of the home,” is part of their mission.

After raising a reported$5 million, the company has expanded beyond just ecommerce; Foodstirs is now in approximately 7,500 stores, including Whole Foods.

We caught up with her before the event to chat about finding success, her journey and lessons she learned.

Before you got into the world of entrepreneurship, you were best known for your acting. Why did you decide to jump into this world?

I always knew I wanted to do more than just be an actor for hire. I thought producing might be enough, but I realised I still desired more. That’s when I realised I could utilise my great existing platform and actually be a part of creating something tangible. It’s been such an interesting process, learning how much of my existing skill set is applicable to being an entrepreneur.

Why did you decide to have a focus on food?

Food has always been an important part of my life, as it should be for everyone, but that magnified once I had children. Our kids were so interested in baking, yet there was no readily available brand that had the attributes we would want and expect – organic, ethically sourced, easy and affordable that also tasted amazing.

What has been the mantra that has helped you find success as an entrepreneur?

The one thing being an actor prepares you for is rejection. I spent the better part of my life facing and dealing with rejection, and I have never let it stop me from achieving something I was passionate about. When it comes to business, for me the word “no” is just the first step to yes. That rejection inspires me to work harder, and prove those no’s to be a mistake.

What is something that would surprise people about your entrepreneurial journey?

I think people assume that being a celebrity makes it easier to raise money and achieve mass distribution and that is not the case. Maybe it gets you in a door, as a novelty, but then you have so much more to prove.

What is one piece of advice you will share ?

This piece of advice came from Galit Laibow – one of my two amazing partners along with Greg Fleishman. Always surround yourself with people who are smarter and know more than you do. We have such an incredible group of advisors with vast experience in all areas of business that we can call on at all times. Their knowledge is invaluable.

What is on the horizon for you?

We just achieved wide retail distribution (in over 7,500 stores) so our main focus at the moment is supporting our stores through quarter four and at the same time dialing in our innovation pipeline for 2018.

From working on her bedroom floor and sharing two-minute noodles with her daughter as she struggled to survive, today African Star Communications represents high-profile rappers such as K.O and Solo, and stand-up comedians Loyiso Gola and Jason Goliath.

She has an office in Nigeria and plans to open two new offices in Botswana and Ghana.

You pulled yourself up by your bootstraps. How did you overcome the hurdles?

I lost my first business to a crooked partner in 2006. I was determined to try again and I went in search of funding, but no-one would give me money.

When the last thing I had to feed my child was a mouldy piece of cheese, I went back to work for a PR company, earning R12 000 a month, managing accounts worth millions. I hated every minute of it. In June 2008, when my CC registration came through, I walked out the door.

My first pitch was for a small charity day that AIG hosted for Manchester United in Johannesburg. I was the only woman in the reception area, but my offer to do the job for R10 000 was irresistible and I signed my first client. That was just the beginning of a long struggle. I was broke for the next three years.

Friends bought my groceries, and I would feed my daughter and have her leftovers for dinner.

I couldn’t afford petrol so I walked from my house in Randburg to do pitches in Sandton in my takkies, and then changed my shoes at the client’s office. The only thing that kept me going was the belief that I could somehow make it work.

What was your big break?

In year three rapper AKA was about to release his first album. He pursued me for four months. Initially, I didn’t want to work with him, but his ambition won me over.

I’ve never regretted the decision. We signed a contract, and shortly after that more clients came my way, mostly for small events.

Working with AKA made me realise that my passion was for music and I decided to channel my energies into promoting South Africa hip-hop stars. That’s how I ended up specialising and finding my own niche in the crowded PR sector.

Our team convinced 8ta/Telkom to look at AKA for their ads and it worked. I branched into corporate PR after the celebrity side took off.

What made your business stand out from other PR companies?

First was affordability. Publicists do not come cheap. I signed up many young artists who had not yet hit the big time, and charged them as little as R4 000 a month to manage their publicity and help make them famous.

Taking on lots of small clients meant that I could spread the risk. We still structure our packages according to what clients can afford and I’ve kept the overheads low. To this day, I’ve never advertised.

Second was my focus on hip-hop. Before 2011, corporates were not interested in rappers and the scene was very much underground. I convinced Vodacom to sponsor a big hip-hop party with AKA as the star attraction.

After that, many other corporates woke up and took advantage of the popularity of the local rap scene. I like to think I played a part in mainstreaming South African hip-hop.

How have you stayed relevant in a fickle industry?

Once the business was pumping, I built my own brand. I never planned to be in the spotlight, but the more I appeared in the media, the more I was able to build my clients’ profiles, and get bigger accounts.

I focused only on doing business-related interviews and people started to take me more seriously. I could not believe how many corporate contracts I did not win because I refused to sleep with the client.

It’s a disappointing reality of this business when you are young and female. Developing my own brand helped me to build a career based on respect and professionalism.